CNN’s ratings plummet

Chuck Ross reports that CNN fell this week to #13 in the cable TV rankings. He cites weekly numbers posted on Thursday by TV Newser.

Fox News and MSNBC came in first and second, respectively, in the cable rankings that measured average audience sizes for the period between June 26 and July 2. Fox News drew an audience of around 1.82 million while MSNBC drew an audience of 1.34 million. CNN had only 711,000 viewers on an average day during the measurement period.

It wasn’t just CNN’s news competitors that beat the network out. According to The Federalist, more Americans tuned in to watch re-runs of “Yogi Bear,” “Full House,” and “Friends” on Nick At Nite than to watch Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon’s shows on CNN.

CNN has fallen from sixth to thirteenth in the ratings over the past month, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The network has had a terrible time lately.

For one thing, it had to retract an article alleging that a Trump associate had illicit Russian business ties. More generally, the Russia “collusion” story — CNN’s bread and butter — has fizzled. One of the network’s lefty commentators, Van Jones, was caught on video calling the story a “nothingburger” (a term that should be outlawed, by the way).

In addition, President Trump has hammered CNN. So has Project Veritas, which released a series of videos that cast doubt on the network’s integrity. In one of them, ironically, a CNN producer admitted that the Russia story was receiving wall-to-wall coverage because of the great ratings it generated for the network.

Things got even worse for CNN when it hunted HanA**holeSolo, creator of a GIF that CNN didn’t like, and then threatened to release his real if he didn’t mend his ways. However, this occurred before the period encompassed by the latest ratings.

After this latest flap, maybe “Wagon Train” and “Laramie” reruns will beat out CNN.